A/N: Hello…I hope you all like it…Guess that's all I have to say…No witty authors' note this time.

Disclaimer: I don't own anyone but the characters that aren't actually from the series…I don't own the series, either.

When Tony returned later that night, Ziva was on the phone. Lacey sat on the couch next to her, doing a crossword in the newspaper. "Who's she talking to?" he asked his girlfriend curiously. The blond just shrugged and looked up at him expectantly. He quirked an eyebrow at her and sat on the arm of the couch. Ziva hung up shortly after and Tony used this to his advantage. "Was that your Manly-Man from Miami?" His eyes twinkled; internally, he was actually hoping that it was. On the outside, he knew it showed.

"Perhaps." The former-Mossad officer waved him off dismissively and stowed the cell phone in her front pocket.

"Whatever happened to him, Zeev?" he asked. "You went on a few ski trips, he cooked you a few meals, you worshipped nature together, and now nothing." A thought struck him. "Oh, no, you two didn't break up, did you, now?" He wanted it to make it seem as though he was joking, for Lacey's sake, but he was really kind of concerned for Ziva. Just because they'd come to the mutual decision to move on, Tony recognized that they were still protective of each other; that would never change.

Ziva turned to him and shrugged. "We did not break up, necessarily." From this, Tony could tell that he'd missed quite a bit in the time he'd been with Lacey; somehow, he even sensed that McGee knew more than he did about it all. "We took … a break."

Lacey snorted, gaining her a dirty look from Ziva. "What? 'Breaks' in relationships mean one of two things. Either one, they last for a few weeks, at most; or two, they last forever. This wasn't a break. I can tell that much from your phone call." The slightly younger woman rolled her eyes and stood. To Tony, the nurse murmured, "McGee just left to pick up dinner."

"Excellent. What's he getting?" Tony gently wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

"I don't know; I think he said something about an Indian walk-up joint. He and Ziva made the decision, not me."

Ziva turned and stared her down. "If you did not want Indian food for dinner, you should—could—have spoken up."

Lacey shook her head, gazing at the other woman blankly. "Actually, Ziva, I love Indian food." This softened the brunette's features somewhat, so much so, in fact, that there was a soft smile gracing her lips. "Butter chicken is my favorite, followed by Rogan Josh and Chole." This personal fact seemed to set Ziva back up to the same icy hardness that she had held before, and she sniffed and walked into the bathroom. "She and I argued earlier. Again." Lacey shifted slightly and the sleeve of her shirt was unintentionally pushed up her wrist, revealing an angry bruise.

"Where'd that come from?" Tony asked, feeling rather breathless.

"Slammed it in the refrigerator." The answer seemed to come too quickly for him to believe it. "Sorry, not the refrigerator; the bathroom door. I was just thinking about how hungry I am." Lacey was noticeably biting the inside of her cheek and Tony carefully took her hand in his. She looked up at him, watching his green eyes intently staring back at her, and finally caved. "Look, I said some mean stuff, and she kind of … It was my fault, really. If I hadn't said what I did, then she wouldn't have gotten mad."

Tony had heard enough. Standing, he said softly, but acidly, "I'll be right back."

"No, Tony, really—" Lacey jumped to her feet and followed him. "It was a really cheap shot, one she didn't deserve…even I know when I've gone too far. Don't be mad at her." She wasn't sure why she was defending the woman—because it really wasn't Lacey's fault at all, but in fact Ziva's reaction to seeing the blond nurse trying to hide her swollen, well-kissed lips—but she felt a bit guilty that this could ruin a partnership. "Tony, come on."

He narrowed his eyes a bit, trying to see through her strong appearance. "What did you say?" He figured it really hadn't been Lacey's fault, but he also knew that Ziva took things more seriously than what was actually necessary sometimes. "Was it about Mossad or something?"

Seeing as the conversation had never taken place, Lacey was forced to fabricate a story, something she had never been very good at. She nodded meekly and said, "I told her that obviously no one wanted her, since she was a cast-off of both…um…Mossad and you." She bit her cheek again. I must not tell lies…

Tony's eyes widened then, as he had previously never known Lacey to pull those types of punches. "Lace…"

"I know, Tony, it was harsh. I shouldn't have done it. I deserved this." She looked down at her wrist, an ugly mix of purple and blue, and frowned. "I don't know what came over me."

Tony could guess: Self-defense. "Alright, Lacey, but I should still talk to her." She nodded again and went to sit down while Tony knocked on the bathroom door.

McGee knocked on the door not shortly after Tony and Ziva finished talking, carrying in four bags full of food. "I got you the butter chicken, Lacey," he explained. Lacey remembered her conversation earlier that day (after the Ziva fiasco) about their likes and dislikes. Butter chicken was on her list of 'likes'. She smiled at the fact he had remembered. "And I figured you'd get here before I did, Tony, so I got you Tandoori chicken." The nerd handed a box and package of plastic utensils to each of the other three people and sat down on a stool by the counter.

Ziva looked around and then gathered her coat and purse. "I think I will take mine to-go and eat at headquarters."

"Aw, Ziva," McGee said, furrowing his eyebrows, "I'm sure Gibbs won't mind if you eat here." She shook her head insistently and he finally relented. "Alright. See you later!"

"Goodbye, everyone." And with that, she left Tony, McGee, and Lacey alone.

"Hey, Boss," Tony murmured, his phone pressed firmly against his ear.

"We got the guy who was hanging out at Lacey's apartment," Gibbs said tersely. "It was Jordan, like we thought. Lacey doesn't have to be in a safe-house anymore."

The Senior Field Agent smiled. "That's great." He sensed that his boss wasn't quite finished yet. "I sense a 'but' somewhere in here…"

"I don't want her goin' to her apartment yet unless she's with one of you guys. If one guy somehow got his paws on her keys, some other weirdo might've, too. Keep her either here at the office or at one of your houses."

Tony didn't have time to respond before he heard the click in his ear. "Well, then," he mumbled, snapping his phone shut and clipping it on his belt. To McGee and Lacey, he said, "Gibbs and Ziva found the guy. Adam."

"What's that mean?" Lacey asked, her eyes glittering excitedly. "Can I go home?"

He crossed to where she was sitting and plopped down next to her. "Kind of."

"Kind of?"

"Yeah," Tony confirmed. "We don't know who shot Vauna or held up the NICU, so we're going to keep you in protective custody—but not here at a safe-house—until we find him." His green eyes met hers and he smiled apologetically. "You can go to your apartment if you're accompanied by one of us, but otherwise, you're going to be either at headquarters or at an agent's house." Lacey shrugged in acceptance and Tony stood to take McGee aside.

The nerd started the conversation. "Have they made any headway with who murdered Granger?"

"No idea." Tony paused for a moment and then said, "Do you know what happened with Ziva and Lacey?" McGee shook his head. "You haven't seen the bruise on Lacey's wrist?"

"Oh, God…"

"Yeah, I know. And guess whose place she's probably going to be set up at first?" The older man stared at his teammate gravely. "This could prove to be very, very bad."

McGee nodded, agreeing. "I can see if I can switch with her."

"You'd do that?" Tony asked, and McGee shrugged his shoulders. "Thanks, McGenerous!"

The man held up a hand to stop his senior agent. "When are you going to stop calling me those stupid names?"

Tony grinned. "Does it affect your taking Lacey in?"

"No…"

"Then probably never." The glint of his smile begged McGee to argue, but when he only gave a simple 'Good to know' jerk of his head, Tony walked off toward Lacey again. "I'll help you with your stuff and then we'll get you back to headquarters."

"Awesome."

"So, you've never actually taken a forensics course before?" Abby pried, skipping around her lab, leaving Lacey to wonder about the Goth girl's sanity. "I mean, you're a nurse, so you've done, like, blood-typing, right?"

The blond nodded, stuffing her hands into the pocket of the hoodie Tony had let her borrow once (and that she had never returned…). "Of course. We do it all the time."

Abby came to a halt in front of her. "Well, we can put you to good use, then." Lacey's eyes widened a bit, hesitantly, before the other woman laughed and said, "Lacey! I was just kidding. Don't worry!" A sincere look crossed her features. "It's great to finally get to talk you for more than five minutes."

"Today has been hectic, hasn't it?" The nurse shook her head. "You think that it's all so 'normal', that your boyfriend's job is so amazing, until you're the one they're trying to protect." Abby nodded in understanding. "You've been there, huh?"

"Well, kind of." The girl in black grinned bashfully. "I was stalked by an ex who thought I was in danger…and then, later on, one of McGee's readers thought that Deep Six—McGee's book—was real life, and that I was trying to kill one of the characters, so he broke in." Lacey watched on, somewhere between disbelief and awe. "Yeah, things get pretty interesting around here, I tell ya."

The preppy-er woman shook her head. "No," she said, keeping her voice low, "that's not what surprises me…"

"Then what does?"

"McGee wrote a book?"

Abby nodded. "Yep. His pseudonym is 'Thom E. Gemcity'." As she spoke, she seemed to be channeling Vanna White from Wheel Of Fortune, spreading her arms wide as if presenting something extravagant. "It's an anagram. Cute, huh?"

"I've heard of his book…I think I read it." In fact, she had read it, several years ago when her first nurse manager had suggested it. Instantly, she had fallen in love with the plotline and character structure. Tommy was her favorite character, quickly followed by L.J. Tibbs, and then by Amy Sutton. "Special Agent McGregor, right?" she asked. Abby held up a finger and scurried off toward her desk, pulling a hardcover book from her drawer. "Yup, that's the one."

"Who was your favorite character?" The woman in the short skirt asked. "Mine's either Amy or McGregor…I can't decide which."

Lacey thought for a moment. "Well, I really do like Tommy…"

"I thought you'd say that." Abby smirked. "You seem like someone who could really fall in love with Tommy, anyway."

The nurse looked at her funny. "Why?"

The forensic scientist beckoned her forward. "Don't tell Timmy I told you this, but…" Looking at all four corners of the room, she whispered, "Deep Six is based on us."

"Us?"

"Yeah, NCIS. Most of the cases in the books are cases we've actually worked." Abby puffed up her chest proudly. "So it makes sense that you're a Tommy fan."

This struck Lacey as odd. "You mean to tell me that 'swashbuckling, socially repugnant Special Agent Tommy' is really my boyfriend?" Abby grinned gleefully. "Then, that would make 'sultry and emotionally distant Mossad officer Lisa' Ziva…"

"You guessed it. And I'm Amy Sutton. McGee is McGregor, and L.J. Tibbs…" She looked at the other woman seriously, arching an eyebrow. "Well, that one's pretty self-explanatory, isn't it?"

For a few hours, Lacey and Abby talked about nothing more than simple girly stuff, such as actors and music. For such a blond-haired, green-eyed, preppy girl, Lacey seemed to surprise Abby. Abby learned that Lacey loved techno and many of the same bands that haunted the speakers of the forensics lab.

They both discovered that they shared a love of Trent Reznor (and Nine Inch Nails in general) and rocked out for at least thirty minutes to one of their albums. Abby had just lost her balance while doing some sort of pirouette (and was about to fall) when Gibbs came in and caught her.

"Hey, Gibbs!" she cheered above the metal. "I was just talking to Lacey." She motioned for the blond to lower the music, and she obeyed, before Gibbs propped her up and stared at both of them. "I don't have anything yet?" she said as a guess as to why the Silver Fox was there.

The retired Marine said nothing, but smirked.

"Mr. Gibbs," Lacey began, "I—"

"It's just Gibbs," he murmured, squeezing by her and heading toward the monitor. "Who is this guy?"

In tandem, Lacey and Abby both shouted, "Trent Reznor!"

The Goth continued, "You know, Nine Inch Nails…sexiest man alive? Kind of looks like Severus Snape, when you think about it, but as far as old men go, Alan Rickman is a god. Not that he's old or anything, of course, Gibbs, because Alan Rickman's kind of your age, about, so he's probably really just your age. Which is older than thirty, but way less than old."

He stared down at them with a grandfatherly gleam to his silvery-blue eyes and cocked his head. "I don't know who they are, but they should get a manicure. Do you know who—" Remembering that Lacey was in the room, he sent her away so that he could talk to Abby about the case in private.

In the hallway, the blond woman, unfamiliar with the setup of the building, came across a room with swinging doors similar to those at the hospital. With a gentle push, she walked through them, finding herself face-to-face with Vauna's body, lying coldly on a metal slab as an older man and his assistant performed an autopsy. Lacey was unable to tear her eyes away, trapped between a feeling of horror and curiosity. "Oh, my God," she whispered, and the younger gentleman, holding a stainless steel bowl, snapped to face her.

"Doctor Mallard, there's…a girl."

The older man nodded, but never paused in his work. "Ah, so you have come to the fork in the road with your current girlfriend, hmm? Well, you are young, Mr. Palmer, and I believe you will have much opportunity to face this again."

"No, Breena and I are fine…" this 'Mr. Palmer' said, "Doctor Mallard, there's—uh—a girl. Uh, here. She's standing—uh—behind you."

Setting down his forceps, the doctor turned and looked at Lacey with wide, bright eyes. "We have a guest! How lovely!" He held out a bloody hand and said, "I am Doctor Donald Mallard; may I have the pleasure of knowing your name?"

She stared down at his hand in shock; she had seen blood before—and had assisted in some neonatal surgeries—and she had also had to watch several autopsies during nursing school. But she had never—never—witnessed a live autopsy on someone she had personally known. This made it so final, and so apparent that she would never talk to Vauna Granger again, that it was nearly unbearable. Lacey's eyes snapped up to meet Doctor Mallard's and she tried to smile.

"I'm Lacey Zimmerman. I…" Well, she couldn't very well say that she was the target of some psychotic guy who had killed the woman lying on the Doctor's autopsy table. "I work at Bethesda Naval Hospital, in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit."

Ducky watched her. "Well, I thought you looked familiar." After a brief pause, he added, "You are seeing Anthony, aren't you?"

"Yeah," Lacey said, blushing and tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "Word travels fast, huh?"

The medical examiner smiled. "That, and Special Agent Gibbs told me that you would be in the building today." Ducky's eyes twinkled and again, Lacey's eyes were trained on the cadaver behind him, as though hypnotized. "Was she a friend?" he asked quietly, stepping forward.

"I only met her a couple of days ago," she replied, her eyes glued to the body. "She trailed me all day, though, kind of like a shadow or an intern." Laughing, though a tad bitterly, she added, "Ironic, isn't it? A nurse manager interning with a mere nurse like me…"

Ducky nodded and led her over to a stool, though not touching her. "Sit, sit. I was almost finished with the autopsy anyway." Lacey entertained herself with looking at the various pictures Ducky had pinned to the wall, and before she knew it, the autopsy was done, indeed. "Now, would you like some tea?"

No wonder Tony loves his job so much, she thought as she watched him collect his instruments for tea-making. The people here are like family.

"Lacey!" Abby cried, hopping into the autopsy lab. "You and I need to talk!"

The blond girl sat straight up, nearly dropping the beautiful teacup that Ducky had given her. "Why? Is something wrong?"

"Yes, terribly, terribly wrong." The forensic scientist sobered and stared at her somberly. "But we need to talk in my lab, not Ducky's. Not that there's anything wrong with Ducky's lab, because there's not, but…" As she trailed off, Lacey stood and gingerly set the teacup on Ducky's tea-cart.

"The tea was amazing, Ducky. Thank you," she said, and Ducky bowed his head at her, smiling. Abby led her from the bay and dragged her down the hall to the forensics lab. "What is—"

Abby locked the doors behind them and sat Lacey down in a rolling-chair. "We haven't talked about Tony. At all. This is…" She thought for a moment to find the word. "This is a travesty! What kind of girl-talk doesn't centralize itself around boyfriends? Jeez." Lacey stared up at her with raised eyebrows. "So go ahead. Start talkin'!"

"Well," she said, chuckling, "I suppose you've already heard about how we met, so I'm not quite sure what to tell you…"

"What's it like to date him?" Abby gushed. "Is he a gentleman? Or is he like a big teenager? Because here, he got the reputation of 'teenager', but he might be different in a relationship, you know?" Lacey just nodded. "No, no! That's not how this works!"

"I know…" the nurse murmured, thinking of how to answer her. "Well, he's always polite. Well, not always, because he is a man, after all." Here, Abby snorted, and it took all of Lacey's willpower to not follow suit. "I mean, he's always very sweet. He has a huge heart, and treats me well…I guess I don't know what else there is to say…" While she felt deep down that Abby was probably a lovely girl and a very good friend, there were just some things that Lacey didn't yet feel comfortable talking about.

"That's just enough," the Goth girl murmured. "You don't need to disclose all the hinky or kinky parts of your relationship; those are your business. I was just curious as to…y'know, the whole 'DiNozzo Experience'." Abby smiled. "How long has it been, again?" The two women talked more until Ziva knocked on the sliding door. Having forgotten that she had locked it, Abby jumped up to flip the latch. "Sorry, Ziva! Lacey and I were just talking and I totally forgot that—"

"It is fine, Abby," Ziva said stiffly, but politely. "Tony wanted me to come and collect Lacey so that McGee can start the watch." She eyed the other two women, obviously trying to be cordial. "Are you ready, Lacey?"

"I suppose…I have all of my things from Tony's apartment…" The blond woman could sense that Ziva was running through all sorts of slutty things she could have with her, from the bitter look on the other woman's face. "The only thing I really need is my purse from upstairs." Ziva pulled it out from behind her back and handed it to her.

"McGee wants to leave as soon as possible," the former-Mossad officer explained, shrugging. She turned on her heel and, right before leaving the lab, turned and said, "Have a good evening, Abby." Lacey saw the first genuine smile to cross the woman's lips all day, and she wished Ziva didn't hate her so much.

"Now, McGee is a nerd," Tony said, taking just Lacey into the elevator, closing the doors, and pulling the emergency stop button as he had seen Gibbs do so many times in the past. "He's kind of a pushover, though, so it's really imperative that you not…you know…try to get him to break the rules, okay?" Lacey nodded. "Also, he's got a dog. A big dog. German shepherd."

His girlfriend just smiled. "I like dogs. I had one as a child." A malamute, which she knew could be bigger than a German shepherd on a good day. "What else?"

"Do I get a kiss before you go?" There was the suave, romantic man she liked so much. "Or are you mad at me for leaving earlier?"

Lacey shook her head. "No, Tony, I'm not mad at you." She raised her arms, looping them around his neck. She loved how tall he was compared to her short frame; it made her feel safe and secure whenever he held her. She pressed her lips to his, standing on her tip-toes, and, ever so slightly, pressed herself into him. When they parted, she just wanted to stand there, with his arms around her, until everything was fixed. But, unfortunately, she knew that couldn't happen.

"Well…" Tony blinked. "Well, that's good." Grinning, he pushed in the emergency stop button and let her get out at ground level, meeting McGee by the front doors of the foyer. "Let anything happen to her, and you're my slave until you die, McProbester," he warned. The younger man just smiled and nodded, having already heard the speech before. After giving Lacey a hug, Tony watched the pair walk out to the geek's car and then turned and walked back upstairs.

This was going to be a long night…